‘The Flash’ Season 6 Preview: What Leads to ‘Crisis’? Will Iris Meet Lois Lane?

Into The Void
Katie Yu/The CW

The Flash may be returning for Season 6, but executive producer Eric Wallace says his and his team’s goal is to make the superhero series that stars Grant Gustin in the title role as exciting as it was in its first year.

Ahead of the new season, Wallace spoke to reporters at an early screening of the premiere episode. According to the EP, the first part of Season 6 will lead into the upcoming Crisis storyline and then new stories take place in the second half. “It gives the season a fresh energy that I hope is a reward to people who’ve watched for the first five,” Wallace says.

Read on for everything we learned at the event.

On how Barry and Iris deal with Monitor’s statements about Barry’s fate

“I can’t speak for the other shows, but Crisis turned out to be the best thing that happened for The Flash. It’s created an immediacy to thinks. We know December 10, 2019 the Flash will die. As a married couple, Barry and Iris can count the number of days [they have left]. It turns the dial up. What can we do? Should we fight this? These are all the things we’re grappling with over the next seven episodes. The relationship is strained, but it will also bring them closer together.”

Candice Patton as Iris West- Allen and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen (Katie Yu/The CW)

On how they’ll handle the situation with Barry vs. how they did with Iris

“That exact question is asked and answered in [our second episode]. In the writers’ room, we had a lengthy discussion about that. Now, it’s the other side of the coin. We know how they reacted with Iris. How will they react with Barry? I can tell you it’s different. Each episode this season is all about do I accept death or do I fight it?”

On if and when we’ll meet Sue Dearborn

“Yes, without question. We’re writing the episode now where Sue first appears and we’re having a blast because Sue’s such a delight. There’s two answers to the first question. We’ve already said Sue will appear in the back half of this season. [But] when I say there’s two answers to that question, sometimes what you see isn’t what you see. Is that opaque enough?”

On Barry finding out that Oliver Queen is also working for the Monitor

“Boy, I wonder what will happen when they both find out? I can’t tell you when it happens, but I will tell you that that is a moment and it is coming. Let’s just say people might get pissed off a little bit.”

Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Jack Rowand/The CW)

On balancing the show and the Crisis crossover

Crisis is about grief, death and the end of all worlds…you have a villain who’s facing the end of his own world. Does that mean he could live past Crisis? That’s the real question. When all the show runners sat down to talk about Crisis…all this synergy started to happen. It was like this domino situation. There’s a lot of cross collateralization. It may not seem like it at first, but it all comes together in our Crisis event. Anyone watching all of them will [understand].”

On if Cisco’s relationships will improve in Season 6

“Yes… We love Kamilla [Hwang, played by Victoria Park]. That’s why we skipped ahead four months [from the end of last season]. We wanted to rip the Band-Aid off because she’s already in the family. She knows Barry’s the Flash. She knows Cisco’s been Vibe. They’re doing just fine and they have a healthy relationship on the show that goes through other things like cases of the week. [They’re going to ask] ‘Can you be happy being human? Can you be happy not being a meta and not saving the world every week?’ That’s a big thing that Cisco will be struggling with all season long.”

On writing science that is digestible for viewers

“I’m a science nut. I used to write a comic for DC called Mister Terrific and a TV show called Eureka. I got in the habit of reading Scientific America and googling websites. I like to use the Stephen King rules of writing. You come up with the crazy idea and then find the facts to support it. That’s what we [do]. We’ll write the science in the script very complicated and do what we call a simplicity pass. And then we ask how much do we really need to explain because it’s a science fantasy/fiction show? We don’t have 800 pages. We have 42 minutes. It’s a balancing act but I like to put in as much real science into the stories as possible because there might be young people watching this who want to become scientists.”

On which version of John Wesley Shipp we’ll see in Episode 2

“It’ll be Jay Garrick. If you put two and two together, you have the plot of our second episode this season. How do [Barry and Iris] react to what’s been given them? You go to a scientist. There’s your plot. This season is a little bit more serialized. A lot of our episodes are going to pick up one second later from where the previous one leaves off. I want viewers to feel that immediacy that they feel with a streaming show. The CW and Warner Bros. have supported this. They said go for it!”

John Wesley Shipp as Jay Garrick and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen (Robert Falconer/The CW)

On a possible pregnancy for Iris

“Not this season, but it doesn’t mean a huge hint to Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) isn’t coming. In fact, there are two. One may be a deliberate misdirect because I love mysteries, but it’s real. Comic book fans will watch Episode 2 and say, ‘I know what that means!'”

On circling back to the Bronze Age of comics in storylines

“As a bronze-age reader myself, I know and love which storyline you’re talking about. Yes, the comics are so rich with wonderful ideas and themes. That’s what we want to honor every week and draw from, but what we ultimately have to do is tell modern contemporary grounded stories. I go to the board in the writers’ room and say, ‘This is what’s supposed to happen. Throw it out. Forget about it.’ And then I ask, ‘What cool thing do you want to see?’ And that’s where we start. That’s where everything should start. [Writers will say], ‘I just want to see that because it’s insane’ or ‘When I read my bronze age comic book blank happened.’ Then, I’ll sit back and go, well, we need Iris emotionally to get to this place and this piece of Bronze Age data supports that. That’s why, hopefully, it feels seamless and rewards the Bronze and Silver Age [readers] and even modern [ones]. I want new readers to connect to our shows – not just their dads.”

Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen, Grant Gustin as Barry Allen, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Hartley Sawyer as Dibney and Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon (Jeff Weddell/The CW)

On Keiynan Lonsdale’s return as Wally West aka Kid Flash

“I have to call him because I think we’re going to start breaking his episode. I dread getting the phone call him saying he’s busy. I support so much his music career and his other artistic endeavors. If all goes well, we should be breaking his story in the next couple of weeks. I am trying my best to get Kid Flash in for a couple where he will meet a classic villain from the classic comic book days. Maybe he’ll save the Flash’s behind which is what I want to see because maybe he’s not a kid anymore?”

On writing Killer Frost this season

“It’s been a pure delight writing Killer Frost this season. She’s much more in the forefront than Caitlin is. [It’s like she’s] a teenager who finally got the key to the car but she doesn’t know how to drive. Everything is new through her eyes. She’ll make some mistakes which will lead to more tears, but at the end she’ll grow into something that didn’t exist. Maybe she’ll lose the ‘Killer’ and just keep the ‘Frost’? I talked to Danielle and she’s having blast.”

Tom Cavanagh as Eobard Thawne (Dean Buscher/The CW)

On the new “Wells” character

“The one [Tom Cavanagh’s playing] this season is my favorite since Harrison Wells, the Reverse Flash of Season 1. He’s so cool. He’s what Tom said at Comic Con – he’s an international man of mystery. This will be a completely unexpected side of him. He has a secret that will be leaked out slowly and will later literally mess with his mind. I know Tom’s excited about this. He looks good in what I’ll call his new costume.”

On if Iris will meet Lois Lane

“I’m not going to answer that, but I think you know the answer. [Laughs] I’m not saying a word!”

Bitsie Tulloch as Lois Lane (Shane Harvey/The CW)

On seeing more of Iris as a journalist

“People who want that will be ridiculously happy this season. Before I got here, I kept asking why isn’t Iris a journalist? Does she work out of her house? Where’s her staff? If we know she becomes a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, we need to start planting those seeds now. Why waste time? Let’s just get to it! [Iris’ team] — Team Citizen — will be getting into trouble. Now, we have a new way of bringing in meta storylines. It doesn’t always have to be a bank robber. [Iris getting more into journalism has] been a blessing from the story gods.

Candice Patton as Iris West – Allen and Grant Gustin as Barry Allen (Katie Yu/The CW)

“Another new story device to bring in cases will be seen in Episode 2. It’s based in character. One of the characters goes through a life change. That’s part of the fun. Also, just because the show’s called The Flash, it doesn’t mean another main character can’t take center stage for an entire episode. Look for that. Because it’s happening!”

The Flash, Season 6 Premiere, Tuesday, October 8 at 8/7c, The CW